I Dreamed of You (ON HOLD)

Chapter 1

Age: 5

Word count: 2,535

Warnings: None

—

Maria Hill was a tough woman.

Life had made her so.

She wasn't the type of person to be easily impressed or taken by surprise by anything. To that can be added the years she worked in S.H.I.E.L.D. as Fury's right hand.

Let's just say she has seen and heard enough things to last her for a lifetime of being impressed by unbelievable things.

Nothing! And I mean nothing, could impress or shock her anymore.

Isn't it?

Or at least that's what she thought.

—

"Nick, are you sure?" Maria was frozen in place in front of Fury's desk in his office

"Affirmative, Agent Hill." Fury confirmed his previous statement "It is beyond a shadow of dubt. It has been confirmed by my most trusted source and has been proven to be more than just a rumor or sick joke created to hurt Agent Romanoff."

Maria felt like her legs were slowly giving up on her.

She allowed herself to slide and sit in one of the chairs in front of her. Her face had suddenly turned pale, while her eyes were dangerously too wide opened. Her mouth was slightly ajar and her thoughts galloped a thousand miles per hour just like her heart that was threatening to jump out of her chest.

But despite all the burning questions she wanted to ask only one came out in a full sentence "How am I going to tell Natasha?"

"That's your problem, Hill." Fury leaned forward on his desk, putting his elbows to rest on it "That's why I've called you here. I need you to be the one to tell Romanoff this news. I know you'll be the best at delivering it and that she'll take it a lot more easier if she hears it from you. Of course, based on the close relationship between you two."

Maria raised her head and looked Fury directly into his eyes "I'm asking you one last time, Nick, and you better not be playing games. Are you 100% sure this is entirely true? Because I swear to God, if I get to tell Natasha and this turns out to be nothing more than fake news I'm not going to care what happens to me after I torture and kill you and whoever else was involved in this."

Fury casually nodded as if the woman's words did not affect him.

Another day at work for him.

"I guarantee. This is not a joke, Hill. You know damn well I do care about Agent Romanoff too and I wouldn't just come and deliver this news if I wouldn't have checked it before myself." Fury stated, as he said each word loud and clear to prove his honesty

Maria nodded.

But she could not make the hammering feeling in her heart and stomach go away.

"You're free to go, Agent Hill. I'm waiting for Agent Romanoff's decision so I can immediately start sending my teams in the field and get this over with as soon as possible." Fury dismissed Maria with a wave of his hand

Sighing heavily, Maria stood up and dragged her feet out of the room, not bothering to say anything to Fury on her way out.

—

Maria hardly made her way to the place she knew Natasha always was when she was not training or away on a mission and that would be the redhead's bedroom.

The agent was walking as if she just got drunk and she couldn't focus her eyesight due to the fog in her mind created by her own thoughts.

She took a moment to sit in silence in front of Natasha's door before gathering enough courage to knock on the spy's door.